ICC unveils a new Qualification process for Women's Cup Championship 2022-2025

ICC unveils a new Qualification process for Women's Cup Championship 2022-2025, new teams added, new ODI status, and much more.

In an effort to see women's cricket grow, ICC has announced an expansion for the Women's Championship 2022-2025. The IWC has added two more teams to the table to compete for direct World Cup qualifications.

Bangladesh and Ireland are the two newly added teams to the ICW 2022-2025. In this 3rd edition, the championship will be played among ten teams instead of 8, which was the case in the previous two championships. The list of 10 teams is as follows:

• Australia

• Bangladesh

• England

• India

• Ireland

• New Zealand

• Pakistan

• South Africa

• Sri Lanka

• West Indies

Further, these ten teams will have to play eight 3 match series, four away and four at home. The top 5 teams and the host will qualify directly for the 2025 World Cup, and the bottom four teams will advance to the World Cup qualifiers along with the bottom two teams from the Women ODI rankings.

Another major advancement in women's cricket announced today is ODI status for associate teams.

ODI Status

Five teams, the Netherlands, Papua New Guinea, Scotland, Thailand, and the USA, have been given the status of permanent ODI teams and are no longer part of associate nations. 

Speaking about the happenings, ICC CEO Geoff Allardice said, "Increasing the number of teams in the ICC Women's Championship and awarding ODI status to five additional teams will help us to accelerate the growth of the women's game. More teams playing more regularly creates a more competitive environment as we saw at the recent ICC Women's Cricket World Cup in New Zealand."

"The context that the IWC brings is so important and ensures fans around the world can enjoy meaningful and competitive cricket throughout the year. I wish all the teams in the ICC Women's Championship the very best in this next edition and good luck to the Netherlands, PNG, Scotland, Thailand, and the USA on what I hope will be a great opportunity to develop in 50 over cricket in their countries."

The 2022-2025 edition of the ICC Women's Championship kicks off on 1st June, when Pakistan will take on Sri Lanka at their home ground in Lahore. Speaking about the new cycle of the Women's Championship, England captain Heather Knight had few words to add.

She added, "The ICC Women's Championship is vital for women's cricket and the decision to increase it to 10 teams is the right one. Hopefully, in the future, we'll see the championship continue to grow."